Chinese Family Life
Every culture has its own different ways of life, including family life. In China, family life is much different than family life here in America.

http://www.drexel.edu/international/partnerships-exchanges/partnerships.html

Marriage is one part of family life everywhere. In China, it is also a tradition in which most everyone follows, although customs in Chinese marriage is not like it is in America. Some of these traditions are:

• arranged marriages
• the matchmaking business
• opinions on divorce

An arranged marriage is when the parents of either the bride or the groom choose who they will marry. The couple does not get to choose who they want to marry. Sometimes their parents plan the marriage before their children are even born. Today, arranged marriages in China are less popular than they were years ago.

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Another tradition in Chinese marriage was the matchmaking business.

“Matchmakers businesses are all thriving just because sometimes people find it a bit hard to find their true love” (Chinese). Some people in China had trouble finding their true love so they went to a proffessional to help them. These people's job was to set up a marriage.

In Chinese culture, they have very different opinions and views on divorce than Americans. In America amount of the population that has been divorced is 50% while in China the amount of the population that has been divorced is 10.4%. Divorce is a very big deal in China, which is why it happens left often. This reflects back to the process of getting married. Because their marriages are set up the way they are, divorces do not happen as much.

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Another part of Chinese family life is the actual family itself, meaning, what goes on in the house and what do the family members do? Sadly, in China during the 'old days', women were not treated the same way that the men were. So were the men were more important? What did they do? And if they weren't treated the same way, what were the women supposed to do?

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The boys in old Chinese families were the most important. A married Chinese couple would hope to have the oldest boy, knowing that he would one day be the head of the family. The oldest boys were even more important because the oldest male in the family would be the head of the family. Usually this was the grandfather, but once the grandfather passed away, the next oldest son in the family would take his place. For example, a married Chinese couple could have a girl first, then another girl, then their third child be a boy. Their boy, even though he is the youngest of the three children, would be the most important child. More important than his sisters.

http://www.chiefhomeofficer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/cartoon-in-shorts-at-pc1.jpg

The men took care of all of the family business. Not only that, but he would go to work every day to provide a home and food for their wife and children. The husband/father of the house was the only one who would go to work while the women stayed home. The Chinese believed that the men were the only ones capable of doing such a job, and that the women should stay home to tend to the house and children. This is what the daughters were taught. The daughters stayed home to learn how to be good housewives and how to take care of children.

The women stayed home to cook, clean, and take care of the children. The wives/mothers were not supposed to go out much, and were seen as the "mother of the husband's children" instead of the wife. "Chinese mothers usually [teach their children] how to behave and [help] them to distinguish what is right or wrong. (birmingham.gov)" Raising the children was left all to their mother, and the father only got involved when the kids would behave very badly.

Works Cited